Changing Her World
by mrs.friendly lover
Summary: Sarah knew she was changing, her past was effecting her future and it was easy to see that her past wasn't easy. Yet falling for him wasn't something she was ready for. Her life had been turned upside down and he was going to be the one to save her from herself.
1. Chapter 1

Sarah walked the halls not knowing what to expect. Buckner was a nice school as far as she could tell, but she knew that all the kids would be the same. The school may change, but the children inside never do. There would be jocks and nerds, Goths and gamers, yet she knew she would stick out. At every school she'd been to in the past three years, she had been the only mute. It wasn't a medical condition that made Sarah unable to speak. She had chosen to stop talking. It was just easier that way.

"We have an amazing art program as well. You're Aunt has told us you are interesting in the arts." The Principle smiled as they walked down the hall.

"She does the most beautiful things I've ever seen." Her Aunt Shiloh smiled as she placed an arm around her tiny niece.

Sarah just rolled her eyes and stepped out of her Aunt's embrace, not being the most comfortable with physical contact. Shiloh smiled sadly at her before nodding and turning her attention back to the tour. As they made their way back to where the tour began, Sarah looked around at all the students.

It was easy to pick out who fit in where, yes they were all in uniforms, but it seemed like each person put a twist on theirs. One girl caught her attention tough. She had long red hair and she wore regular cloths. She wasn't a student, yet had a small group with there, athletes.

As the small group passed Sarah, most of them gave her dirty looks. Except the redhead, she smiled softly and nodded as their paths crossed. Sarah had thought of smiling back, but it had been so long since a smile was present on her face. She was distracted in her own thoughts that she hadn't heard her Aunt. Only when she felt her hand on her shoulder did Sarah react.

And not how anyone was expecting. Sarah lashed out, striking the hand away and backing herself against a row of lockers shaking. The looks of shock from literally everyone around them made her straighten up and glance apologetically to her Aunt.

"It's alright, I should have known better." She spoke softly.

"Is that going to happen every time someone touches you?" The Principle asked with a concerned look.

Sarah shook her head as Shiloh explained that it was only when Sarah was lost it thought that it would happen. When she was focus on anything a touch wouldn't bother her. It had been almost a year since she had acted like that. He looked skeptical, but nodded as he walked them out to their car.

"You would be a welcomed addiction to Buckner Hall, Ms. Hart. I hope to see your enrolment papers very soon." He smiled extending his hand.

Sarah took in gingerly and gave it a soft shake before pulling away. As she got into the car she could still hear what was being said. Though they thought she couldn't.

"I know you're one of our more respected donators, but I'm still hesitant in accepting Sarah. She doesn't speak, she's nervous and jittery around men, and quit frankly if these kids find out that she doesn't like being touched. Well lets just say she won't last long if she makes the wrong enemies. Her scores are great and our art program would be blessed to have her, but is she up for it?" The Principle asked smiling politely at Sarah every once in a while.

"Sarah is strong. She's been though so much and I know that she has some adversities, but she's worth the calls you might have to make to some snobby kid's parents. If she weren't ready to be back in a regular school, she would have let me know." Shiloh said with her head held high.

It was heart warming to Sarah to know that her aunt was pushing for this. Sarah knew that she was going try harder then she had been. She wasn't sure if she was ready for a new everything, but she knew that Shiloh needed her to do this.

Three years of silence had been rough on Shiloh just as much as it was for Sarah. Granted they had gone through different scenarios. Sarah knew she was worrying her already worrisome aunt.

With a nod the Principle smiled and turned away. Once Shiloh was in the car, they went back home. The two-story brick house was waiting for them as they pulled into the drive behind the gated fence.

"Home Sweet Home." Shiloh smiled as she pulled into the garage.

Sarah mimed that she was tired and started for her room. It was only mid-afternoon, but Sarah hadn't been out of the house much and the excitement had gotten to her. Before she got to far up the stairs, Shiloh called her back down.

"We both know if you go up there now you'll sleep right through dinner. At least have a little something before you lay down. You're already to skinny." She joked.

The truth was, Sarah was very much under weight, skin and bones practically. Yet she could hide it well under the baggy sweatshirts and layers of clothes. That fact mixed with her short height made it all the more easier to hide the fact that she'd lost most of her already thin stature.

She waved an apple at her aunt before taking a bite and turning back around. Shiloh found it hopeless to try and get her to eat most days. Even with making huge meals for just the two of them, Shiloh ended up tossing most of it away.

It was a hard road the two shared, but Shiloh had a feeling that this was just the start of something much better then how things had been in the past. She watched Sarah make her way up the stairs and could just feel in her heart that everything would be alright.


	2. Chapter 2

In a few short weeks, Sarah had started school and kept her grades perfect along. It wasn't that hard for her to keep up on homework when she had no social life. She kept to herself, not really looking to make any friends. Though a few of the kids in her art class would try and talk with her about her work, she would answer them on the whiteboard she had to carry around. Other then that Sarah had no want in communicating with them.

Sarah had noticed the redhead walking around at times. She noticed that the redhead would sigh when she spoke to a short brunette that was in a few of her art classes. Sarah wasn't sure which one was deaf for the longest time, till she noticed the brunette would respond to noises.

It was late on a Friday and Sarah was making her way out of the school when she bumped into a tall figure. She hadn't been paying attention and scared herself just as much as she had annoyed the person now staring down at her. The skirt she had to wear, that was usually down to her knees, was now exposing her twig legs up to her mid-thigh.

"Watch where you're walking." He said looking down at her.

He had shaggy blonde hair with classic pretty boy looks, Sarah had seen him around with another blonde. His blue eyes looked her over, a smirk on his face till he saw how thin her legs were. The smirk disappeared and he held his hand out to her.

"I'm sorry, I should have been looking where I was going, you okay?" He said sounding generally concerned.

Sarah nodded, but didn't accept his hand for help as she picked herself up. Dusting off her skirt and making sure it covered her she walked away quickly, her eyes downcast. The whole way down the hall she could feel someone's eyes on her.

Once she was in the car her Aunt was letting her borrow, Sarah looked around before pulling of her parking stall and drove home. She wasn't sure if her Aunt was going to be home. Now that she was at a school again, Shiloh could get back to work. Which meant more time alone.

With Shiloh usually not getting home till late in the night, Sarah would spend her afternoons in her studio. Only coming out to eat a snack or use the bathroom. Sarah was finishing paintings and sketches done in record time. Then she would make her way to the shower before bed.

That night Sarah had found herself dreaming of Wilke, the boy that she had bumped into. He was watching her work and move about her house. He didn't talk, just kept silent and followed her from room to room. It was more then odd for Sarah to be dreaming about him. And when she woke up the next morning she could have sworn she had eyes on her.

She wasn't feeling up to wearing her uniform that day and decided that she would toss on some paint-splattered jeans that flared at the end and a Buckner sweatshirt. Something she had noticed a few of the girls at school had worn something similar and not gotten into to much trouble. Sarah felt like a weight had been lifted as she looked in the mirror.

It made her feel better, people would stare at her all the time, being known as the mute girl, but with her baggy clothes and her hair braided back she felt like herself again. Walking down the steps to grab a protein bar before school, Sarah could hear her Aunt talking on the phone.

"I know you're getting all this unneeded stress ever since this happened, but it's only for a few days. She's no trouble I promise….Oh I'll call you back. Talk to you in a bit." Shiloh said into the phone, cutting herself off as she saw Sarah walking into the room.

It was more then obvious that Shiloh was talking about Sarah. With a smile she acted like everything was fine and went about making a plate of food for Sarah. She was saying things about her day and how busy she was going to be. Sarah knew she was building up to what she had been talking about on the phone.

"I have this business trip that I need to go on for a few days. I've asked a friend of mine if you can stay with her. And before you get all defensive about it, I can't let you stay here alone. Yes you can take care of yourself, but I'm not okay with leaving you here alone. Hell you wouldn't eat if I weren't around to remind you about meals." Shiloh said talking a mile a minute because she knew how Sarah was going to act.

To her surprise, Sarah just pulled out her whiteboard from her backpack and wrote.

'Who? How long?'

"You remember the Kennish's right, well I've asked if you could use one of their spare rooms. And it would only be for a few days, four at the most. I know you don't know them very well, but you go to school with her kids and she'll only be reminding you to eat and do your homework." Shiloh had a somewhat pleading tone.

'Fine, I'll do it for you.' Sarah grabbed an orange from the bowl of fruit on the table and moved to get up.

"Where do you think you're going? You're eating what I put on that plate for you."

Sarah pointed at the clock to show that she was going to be late. Shiloh came up behind her and pushed her back toward the table.

"I've only seen you eat one meal in the past two days, you're eating your breakfast and I'll write you a note for being late. Sit. Eat. I worked hard on this."

Sarah ate most of what was on the plate before Shiloh sent her off. She made it to school just as her first period ended. On her way to her art class the blond, Wilke, from the night before came up next to her.

"Hey, Sarah right?" He smiled, charm dripping from his every pore.

She just nodded and kept walking, not really interested in what he had to say.

"I forgot you don't talk. That's cool."

Sarah stopped in her tracks and turned to him, a look of impatiens on her face. That didn't seem to stop him from wasting her time.

"I was thinking you could come and have lunch with me today. Get to know a couple people."

Shaking her head she started to walk again. He didn't follow her this time and she was somewhat grateful for that. As she stepped into class everything was normal as she pulled out the piece she was working on.

It was a cartoon version of the cat from Alice in Wonderland. Everything had been sketched out onto the canvas. She was now putting her own twist on it. She had him sitting in a tree with a sunset behind him. Sarah could picture a rainbow sky behind him and clouds of gray.

"I've never seen someone with this much dedication." The voice behind her startled her making her jump up and spill paint all down the front of herself.

"Oh God, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." Sarah looked at who was talking to her, Bay one of the more talented kids in the class.

Sarah brushed her off, in a non-rude way, and walked over to the deep sinks in the back of the classroom. She started to dab at the yellow paint with paper towel, most of it was coming off. Making her glad she wore her painting jeans that day.

"Looks like you had some good luck." Bay laughed, causing Sarah to look at her oddly.

"I mean if you weren't already wearing painted jeans and all. Not that you got paint all over yourself." She spoke with speed.

Sarah just kept working the paint out of her jeans and with some effort, she got almost all of it off, only a few yellow lines were left. She turned to go back to her work, but Bay didn't go back to her work. Bay just stood there smiling. Awkwardly Sarah sidestepped Bay and made her way back to her art.

"I just heard that you might be staying with my family for a couple days. Figured you would at least want to know who I was before you had to share a bathroom with me. I mean not that we'd be in it at the same time or anything, but just… Sorry I tend to ramble when I'm nervous."

Sarah nodded and pointed back to her work.

"Oh, I get it, art first, totally understandable. We can talk later." Bay backed away and went back to her own work.

Sarah knew that this was just the beginning. She had heard that Bay was a determined girl. All Sarah could hope for was one last normal day before spending almost a full week with strangers. Something in her gut told her that she was in for a big change with the Kennish's.


End file.
